Maya Moore
Maya April Moore (born June 11, 1989) is an American professional basketball player at forward for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA and the Shanxi Flame of the Chinese league. Moore was the winner of the 2006 and 2007 Naismith Prep Player of the Year. She was selected as the John Wooden Award winner in 2009 after leading Connecticut to the undefeated national championship. The following season, Moore led Connecticut to its second straight national championship and continued its overall undefeated streak at 78; in the 2010–11 season, she led the Huskies in extending that streak to an NCAA both-gender record (all divisions) of 90. On May 18, 2011, Moore became the first female basketball player to sign with Jordan Brand.1 Moore was the first overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft, and joined a Minnesota Lynx team that already featured all-star caliber players in Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen. Moore was the third-leading scorer on the team during the regular season with 13.2 points per game, which led all rookies. Moore earned Rookie of the Year honors.2 Moore then helped lead her team to its first WNBA championship, the second number one draft pick to do so. Since 2011, Moore has continued to excel, both with the Lynx and with overseas teams in Europe and China. Moore also won a gold medal with the U.S. women's basketball team in the 2012 London Olympics. She won her second WNBA championship in 2013, in a series where she was named MVP.3 Early lifeedit Maya April Moore was born on June 11, 1989 in Jefferson City, Missouri. She is the daughter of Kathryn Moore. 4 Moore had her first exposure to basketball at the age of three when her mother mounted a hoop on the back door of their apartment.5 High School Careeredit As a junior in 2005–06, she was named the Naismith Prep Player of the Year after leading Collins Hill High School to Georgia's Class 5A state championship. She was only the second junior to win the Naismith award6 Her first dunk was one-handed off an alley-oop pass in warm-ups at a dunk contest in Charlotte, NC in December 2005. She was 16 at the time.7 In December 2006, she led the Collins Hill Eagles over Poly (Long Beach, California) by a score of 75–61, resulting in her being selected unanimously as the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament of Champions in Chandler, Arizona. In the title game of the "T-Mobile Invitational" in Seattle, she scored 48 points in a win over St. Elizabeth (Wilmington, Delaware). In 2007, Moore became Collins Hill High School's all-time leader in points and rebounds. During her four seasons at Collins Hill, the school amassed a 125–3 record.6 Moore won 3 Georgia Class 5A State Championships. Collins Hill was ranked No. 1 and claimed the crown of National Champions in 2007 by USA Today (Ranked No. 2 in 2006 and Ranked No. 5 in 2005). Moore announced that she would play college basketball at the University of Connecticut.8 After she led Collins Hill High School to a third straight Georgia Class 5A state championship she received her second Naismith Prep Female Player of the Year in 2007. Moore was named a WBCA All-American.9 She participated in the 2007 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored 25 points10 and earned MVP honors for the Red team.11 Time with the Georgia Metrosedit Maya Moore played for the Georgia Metros 16U Nike Travel Team in both 2005 and 2006. The Georgia Metros went 73-6 in those two travel seasons, and Maya led them to four National Championships: The AAU 16U National Championship in Orlando (where she was the MVP, as a 15 year old) in 2005; the US Junior Nationals Championship in DC, twice, in both 2005 and 2006; and the Nike Nationals Championship in 2006. Notable teammates while with the Georgia Metros included Kelly Cain (Tennessee), Ashley Houts (Georgia), Alicia Manning (Tennessee), Morgan Toles (Auburn/FSU), Charenee Stevens (South Carolina), Taylor Turnbow (LSU), Jordan Greenleaf (Auburn), and D'Andra Moss (VCU). University of Connecticutedit Moore led the Huskies to a 36–2 record in the 2007–08 NCAA season, their best record since their Final Four appearance of 2004. During the season, Moore averaged a team-high 17.8 points per game, and hit 42% of her three point shots. She was second to Candace Parker in the Associated Press Player of the Year voting. Moore also placed second on the team in rebounds with 7.6 per game and blocks with 1.6 per game. She was the first freshman, male or female, to be named the Big East Player of the Year. Moore won the award again as a sophomore. Moore's teammate, Tina Charles, won the award in 2010, while Moore went on to win the award in 2011, joining Villanova's Shelly Pennefather and former UConn player Kerry Bascom as three-time recipients.12 In 2010, Moore led the team in scoring and steals, and tied Charles for total rebounds en route to a 39–0 season, culminating in an NCAA National Championship.13 On March 7, against Syracuse, Maya Moore scored the 2,000th point of her college career. She is the first player at UConn to accomplish this feat as a junior.14 “ Working hard and playing good team basketball, respecting the game and trying to bring it as much honor as we can is a beautiful thing. ” —Maya Moore15 During the 2009–10 season, some of the sports media considered whether the dominance of the UConn program was bad for women’s basketball. Some concluded it was not bad for the game, and supported the notions of playing hard and trying to play a beautiful game.15 Moore was the subject of an ESPN Sports Science video clip, discussing her vertical leap, court vision, and muscle memory. They discussed her ability to steal, noting that she can move her hands faster than the striking speed of a rattlesnake.16 Moore was named an AP First team All-American, the fourth time she has earned the honor, and only the second player in history to earn First Team honors for four years. The first such recipient was Courtney Paris.17 USA Basketballedit Moore was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009, one of only three college players and the only junior to be invited to the training camp.18 The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics was chosen from these participants. At the conclusion of the training camp, the team traveled to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where they competed in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational.18 Moore was one of twenty players named to the national team pool. Twelve of this group were chosen to represent the USA in the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.19 Moore playing for USA National team USA against the Select team. Moore playing for USA Select team against the USA National team. The USA National team began training in April 2010 to prepare for the FIBA World Championship starting in September 2010. Moore was one of the players selected for the training sessions, run by the national team coach Geno Auriemma. The teams played informal scrimmages, with one team made up of the players expected to be on the national team, and the other team made up of invited all star college players, referred to as the select team. Although Moore was still in college, she was invited to be part of the national team. In the first two ten-minute games, Moore played with the national team and helped them to two wins. Then Moore switched jerseys, and played for the select team. In both games, the select team won, with Moore making the assist to put the team ahead, then stealing the ball and making the game winning shot in the final seconds. Moore ended up being on the winning side in all four games.20 Moore was named as one of the National team members to represent the USA Basketball team in the WNBA versus USA Basketball.21 This game replaced the normal WNBA All-Star game with WNBA All-Stars versus USA Basketball, as part of the preparation for the FIBA World Championship for Women to be held in the Czech Republic during September and October 2010. Moore was selected to be a member of the National team representing the USA at the World Championships held in September and October of 2010. The team was coached by Geno Auriemma. Because many team members were still playing in the WNBA until just prior to the event, the team had only one day of practice with the entire team before leaving for Ostrava and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Even with limited practice, the team managed to win its first games against Greece by 26 points. The team continued to dominate with victory margins exceeding 20 points in the first five games. Several players shared scoring honors, with Swin Cash, Angel McCoughtry, Moore, Diana Taurasi, Lindsay Whalen, and Sylvia Fowles all ending as high scorer in the first few games. The sixth game was against undefeated Australia — the USA jumped out to a 24-point lead and the USA prevailed 83–75. The USA won its next two games by over 30 points, then faced the host team, the Czech Republic, in the championship game. The USA team had only a five-point lead at halftime, which was cut to three points, but the Czechs never got closer. Team USA went on to win the championship and gold medal. Moore averaged 8.7 points per game.22 Moore was one of 21 finalists for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team Roster. The 20 professional women's basketball payers, plus one collegiate player (Brittney Griner), were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee to compete for the final roster to represent the USA at the 2012 Olympics in London.23 Moore won a gold medal with Team USA in 2012, in doing so joining Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Ruth Riley, Tamika Catchings and fellow UConn alums Kara Wolters, Swin Cash, Sue Bird, and Diana Taurasi on the elite list of female basketball players to have won NCAA titles, WNBA Championships and Olympic gold medals. Professional basketballedit Maya Moore's professional career, like her high school and college career, has been filled with championships. In her first three years, she made three WNBA finals, one Eurobasket final, and two WCBA finals, and won five of the six possible championships she could have. Along the way, she has established herself as one of the best professional women's players in the game. 2011edit Moore was selected 1st overall in the 2011 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx.24 She joined a team that already featured talented players like Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson, and Seimone Augustus, and helped the Lynx to their best record in franchise history, as well as the best record in the WNBA.25 Moore was named WNBA Rookie of the Month for July and August, and played in the WNBA All-Star Game.2627 Though Moore admitted that she struggled at times to adapt to the extraordinary level of talent in the WNBA, her play still earned her Rookie of the Year honors.28 During the playoffs, Moore was her team's second-leading scorer. She led her team in scoring once, in the final game of the Western Conference finals, when she poured in 21 points, including six three-pointers.29 In October 2011, Maya became only the second player in league history to win Rookie of the Year honors and a WNBA championship in the same year.3031 2012edit In 2012, Moore helped the Lynx begin the season with a 10-0 run, the best start in WNBA history.32 The Lynx went on to equal 2011's 27-7 mark, finishing as the top seed in the WNBA Playoffs for a second straight year. The Lynx advanced to the 2012 WNBA Finals, for the second straight season, but fell to the Indiana Fever. 2013edit 2013 was the best season of Moore's young career. She led the Lynx in points, and became the first player in WNBA history to lead the league in both three-point field goals and three-point shooting percentage.33 Moore was twice selected WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month, and three times selected WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week. Meanwhile, the Lynx once again had the best record in the WNBA, finishing 26-8. The Lynx swept through the playoffs, winning their second WNBA championship. Moore was named WNBA Finals MVP, leading her team in scoring two of the three games in the Finals. 2014edit In the fourth game of the 2014 season, Moore set a new WNBA record for scoring 30 or more points in four consecutive games.34 Overseas careeredit Moore signed with Ros Casares Valencia of Euroleague Women for the 2011–2012 season. She joined the team late due to her title run with the Lynx and played the last 10 games, helping them to win the championship in her Euroleague rookie season.35 After Ros Casares ceased operation, Moore signed with the Chinese professional team Shanxi Xing Rui Flame.36 She recorded 60 points, 13 rebounds, 6 blocks and 5 steals against Yunnan, and averaged a double-double and a staggering 45.5 points in her first 5 games with the team.37 Moore finished her first season averaging 41.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, leading the Flame to a championship in their first year at the top level in Chinese women's basketball.38 In Moore's second year with Shanxi, she again took her team to the finals, averaging 43.3 points per game in a 3-1 series win over Beijing. It was Moore's fifth professional championship in three years.39 Personal lifeedit Moore is a Christian. More has spoken about her faith saying, "Even though I’ve got a lot of awards and honors, it’s nothing compared to what the Lord has done to my heart and what He’s done for the world" and "I’m grateful to have the platform of an elite student-athlete and professional basketball player, and I want to do His will with my life."4041 On October 28, 2013, Moore was featured as Betty Lou in "Uncle Drew: Chapter 3"42 of the Pepsi Max series of advertisements written and directed by Kyrie Irving. She is the first WNBA player to be a part of the series and alongside 'Lights' played by Nate Robinson and 'Uncle Drew' played by Irving, they hustle a courtyard of young players at Seward Park in Chicago, Illinois. Awards and honorsedit She was named to the U.S. U-18 National Team in 2006, and helped that team qualify for the 2007 U19 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2008, she became the first freshman in Big East Basketball history (men or women) to be named as the Big East Player of the Year. Through Moore's two seasons at UConn, Moore had only 3 games where she didn't reach double digits. Those games are a 7-point performance vs. Pittsburgh on March 10, 2008, 7 points vs. Rutgers on April 1, 2008 and 8 points vs. Villanova on February 24, 2009. Moore also broke the UConn single-season record for most points as a freshman (678) breaking the mark set by Svetlana Abrosimova, who had 538 in 1997–98. Scored her 1,000th career point on January 20, 2009 (in just her 55th game at UConn) at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut while scoring 40 points over the Syracuse Orange. The previous UConn record for the least games needed to reach 1,000 points was 63 by Svetlana Abrosimova. Maya Moore becomes UConn's all-time single-season scoring leader with 712 points,43 ends season with 754 points44 Moore finished the 2009–10 season with 736 points, the second most points scored in a season by a UConn player only to herself (754 pts in 2008–09). In addition, this brings her career total to 2,168 points, 178 short of the UConn record of 2,346 points held by her teammate Tina Charles. Moore was named the co-winner of the Honda-Broderick Cup (along with Megan Hodge from Penn State), awarded to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. The criteria include "outstanding athletic achievement but also team contributions, scholastics and community involvement".4546 Moore won the 2010 ESPY Award for Best Female College Athlete.47 Moore was selected to play in a basketball game organized by President Barack Obama to entertain wounded troops. The players invited included some current and former stars: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Bill Russell and Magic Johnson.4849 Moore scored a career-high 41 points while adding 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks in UConn's historic 89th consecutive victory on Dec. 21, 2010 against 22/22 Florida State. In March 2011, Moore earned All-American honors, becoming the second four-time All-American women's basketball player. In April 2011, Moore was named Associated Press Player of the Year for the second time. Maya Moore accepting the Wade trophy for the best NCAA Division I player in the USA Moore was selected Best Female Amateur Athlete by Connecticut Magazine for 2010 Won a gold medal with Team USA in the London Olympics 2007edit Naismith National Girls' High School Player of the Year WBCA All-American9 WBCA High School Game MVP (Red team)11 2008edit Big East Freshman of the Year Big East Player of the Year USBWA National Freshman of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association50 AP All America First Team First freshman (man or woman) to be named Big East Player of the Year State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team 2009edit Maya Moore Maya Moore in Parade celebrating UConn undefeated National Championship Big East Player of the Year51 Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Performer52 CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-America First Team53 USBWA National Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association50 AP All-America first team54 Women's NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team55 State Farm Wade Trophy Player of the Year56 State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team57 Naismith Trophy58 Women's John R. Wooden Award59 ESPY for Best Female College Athlete60 2010edit All-BIG EAST First Team (unanimous)51 Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year61 Academic All-America of the Year award62 AP All-America First Team63 State Farm Coaches' All-America Team57 State Farm Wade Trophy Player of the Year56 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player64 Honda Sports Award, basketball6566 Honda-Broderick Cup, co-winner46 ESPY for Best Female College Athlete47 Best Female Amateur Athlete by Connecticut Magazine67 2011edit Honda Sports Award, basketball68 Elite 88 Award Division I women's basketball69 AP All-America First Team17 All-BIG EAST First Team70 Big East Player of the Year12 State Farm Wade Trophy Player of the Year71 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award72 Honda-Broderick Cup73 ESPY for Best Female College Athlete 2011 WNBA All-Star WNBA All-Rookie Team WNBA Rookie of the Year WNBA Champion 2012edit EuroLeague Women Champion Olympic Gold Medalist, Women's Basketball 2013edit WNBA Champion WCBA Champion 2013 WNBA All-Star 2013 WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month (2x) First Team All-WNBA WNBA Finals MVP WNBA career statisticsedit Legend GP Games played GS Games started MPG Minutes per game RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per game TO Turnovers per game FG% Field-goal percentage 3P% 3-point field-goal percentage FT% Free-throw percentage Bold Career high League leader Regular seasonedit Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG 2011 Minnesota 34 34 28.0 .439 .369 .787 4.6 2.6 1.4 0.5 1.47 13.2 2012 Minnesota 34 34 29.7 .465 .388 .879 6.0 3.6 1.5 0.6 1.82 16.4 2013 Minnesota 34 34 31.4 .509 .453 .882 6.2 3.0 1.7 1.0 1.68 18.5 Career 3 years, 1 team 102 102 29.7 .473 .403 .854 5.6 3.1 1.5 0.7 1.66 16.0 Postseasonedit Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG 2011 Minnesota 8 8 27.9 .458 .400 .690 5.9 2.3 1.0 0.6 1.88 13.8 2012 Minnesota 9 9 33.0 .429 .433 .913 5.2 2.8 1.0 0.6 1.67 16.6 2013 Minnesota 7 7 32.7 .531 .400 .882 5.3 2.7 1.6 0.4 1.43 20.9 Career 3 years, 1 team 24 24 31.2 .470 .416 .826 5.5 2.6 1.2 0.5 1.67 16.9 Other statisticsedit High school statsedit Season Games PPG RPG SPG 2004–05 32 19.4 8.6 2.8 2005–06 32 23.2 11.3 5.4 High school totalsedit Number of Seasons Games PPG RPG SPG 4 128 19.3 8.6 3.5 University of Connecticut statisticsedit Maya Moore Statistics7475 at University of Connecticut Year G FG FGA PCT 3FG 3FGA PCT FT FTA PCT REB AVG A TO B S MIN PTS AVG 2007–08 38 275 506 0.543 73 174 0.420 55 74 0.743 290 7.6 116 80 59 63 1121 678 17.8 2008–09 39 284 545 0.521 90 226 0.398 96 123 0.780 348 8.9 127 61 59 76 1209 754 19.3 2009–10 39 279 542 0.515 80 192 0.417 98 124 0.790 325 8.3 150 75 40 82 1098 736 18.9 2010–11 38 333 636 0.524 68 177 0.384 134 159 0.843 313 8.2 151 85 46 89 1255 868 22.8 Totals 154 1171 2229 0.525 311 769 0.404 383 480 0.798 1276 8.3 544 301 204 310 4683 3036 19.7 See alsoedit List of NCAA Division I women's basketball players with 3000 points List of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball players with 1000 points List of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball players with 1000 rebounds Connecticut Huskies women's basketball 2008–09 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team 2009–10 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team